It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that lacrosse is a fast growing sport. It will further be appreciated that lacrosse heads are essential to playing the game. A lacrosse head is a collection, catching, or basket-type, element that attaches to the end of a handle, or lacrosse stick. The lacrosse head is usually molded from polymers, such as DuPont Xytel brand nylon. The lacrosse head has an open, or upper, side for catching and discharging a ball and a lower side to which a net or pocket is attached for holding the ball. A lacrosse head has a throat section that includes a ball stop for impacting a ball and a socket for receiving the handle. A pair of sidewalls is attached to the throat section proximate the ball stop and are joined distal from the throat section by a lip or scoop.
In the game of lacrosse, the head is used to catch the ball, hold the ball, and pass or shoot the ball. To this end, there have been several attempts to improve the lacrosse head to enhance the playing of lacrosse.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,037,841, 4,270,756, and 6,561,932 disclose the use of cushioning materials placed on the internal surfaces of a lacrosse frame near its base at the ball stop. These cushioning materials are positioned and designed to cushion the impact between the ball and the frame of the lacrosse head once the ball has already been collect, or positioned, within the lacrosse head near the ball stop. These prior art lacrosse heads fail to use cushioning material to absorb energy from an impact between the ball and the pocket of the lacrosse head. As such, the ball has a tendency to rebound or “pop” out of the lacrosse head, which is an unwarranted event during the course of a lacrosse game.
Also, prior art attempts have been made to reconfigure the sidewalls and the ball stop area to improve the performance of a lacrosse head. For examples U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,935,026 and 5,651,549 issued to Dill et al disclose a lacrosse head in which the majority of the head, all the head except for the portion of the head proximal to the throat, lies on a plane below the stick. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,925 discloses an upper wall and a lower wall in which both the upper wall and lower wall curve away from the plane, have a curved base, and then curve back toward the plane.
These patents fail to recognize the need for a flat section separating the divergent and convergent sections near the throat and scope sections of the lacrosse head. Further, the design of the lacrosse head disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,925 substantially increases the travel time of a ball through the curvature and reduces the control of the ball during this travel. Also, this curve causes the pocket to be formed further from the scoop. As such, a shot taken with this prior art head is slower and less controlled, which reduces the performance and usefulness of the prior art head during the lacrosse game.
What is needed, then, is a lacrosse head that reduces the energy of impact between the ball and the pocket of the lacrosse head. Preferably, this needed lacrosse head will reduce the rate of deflection of the pocket with respect to the frame upon impact of a ball with the lacrosse head. Additionally, a lacrosse head is needed to properly position the base of the lacrosse head with respect to the scoop and throat of the lacrosse head. This improved design should preferably increase the shot speed and control of a ball traveling from this new lacrosse head. Preferably this lacrosse head carries the lacrosse ball in a position within the lacrosse head that increases the shot speed and accuracy of the shot of leaving the lacrosse head. This needed lacrosse head is presently lacking in the art.